Helpful Tips to Stop Snoring

Posted by Apnea
Categorized Under: Sleep Apnea Breathing Machine
Dated: 18 Dec 2009
Comments: 0

Are you sick of being labeled a lumberjack in the morning? Is “sawing logs” during the night causing you grief? Well, if you’re like me and have a problem with snoring, read on for some tips to help you out.

To make the most of your efforts to stop snoring, it’s helpful to understand what exactly causes you to snore.  Simply put, snoring is a result of the narrowing of your air passages. When the air passage is constricted, the soft, floppy tissue in your throat vibrates and creates the snoring sound.  The narrowing of the air passage can be accredited to several different reasons, but the two that are most frequently associated with snoring are poor sleep posture and abnormalities of the soft tissues in your throat[1].

Abnormalities, you say?  Well, yes– but don’t worry.  I promise you’re not weird or anything, and you’re certainly not alone. Chances are that if you’re a middle aged man, these irregularities will apply to you. Men naturally have narrower air passages than women, and that explains why it’s mostly men who are condemned to the couch at night. Another reason for such irregularities can be attributed to heredity: if your mom or dad snored, chances are they passed it along to you.  Other factors that can cause your throat to relax more and create that unpleasant snoring sound include smoking, a history of asthma or allergies, alcohol, certain medications, and just being middle aged.

Now that we’ve pinpointed some of the reasons you snore, let’s take a look at what you can do to stop the problem. The first step is to make some small changes to your bedtime routine, and the following are a few tips to help keep the sawmill quiet when you get between the covers:

If your snoring persists in spite of taking these steps, you may need to seek professional medical help.  Observation by a either a dentist or an ear, nose, and throat specialist may reveal specific problems that are beyond your own control, and in these instances, you may be prescribed the use of particular devices such as a CPAP [Continuous Positive Airway Pressure] machine, or a mouthpiece which will keep your air passages open throughout the night. Some extreme cases may even require surgery.

Whether you’re a mild snorer or someone at risk of having a chronic snoring disorder that requires medical attention, one thing is certain: you need to monitor the problem and get some help if your own efforts to control it don’t work.  Snoring, believe it or not, can be both an indicator and a cause of serious health risks that can take a toll on your body.  A lack of air through those passages at night will create pressure on your heart, which is often linked to high-blood pressure.  Just a simple case of snoring is often not the problem, and sleep apnea may instead be the proper diagnosis.  This disorder occurs when the air passage is so constricted during the night that breathing completely stops, and the sufferer will often wake up for a second to gasp for the next breath– thus interrupting their REM cycle.  When REM sleep is interrupted, a fatigued feeling is prevalent throughout the next day.  In the worst cases, the sleeper may not wake up at all, and the problem can be fatal.

My best advice for all you lumberjacks out there: try to get some relief from the tips I’ve listed, but above all, don’t ignore the problem.  It could be more serious than you think.

The Exhaustion of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)

Posted by Apnea
Categorized Under: Sleep Apnea Breathing Machine
Dated: 4 Dec 2009
Comments: 0

If you are one of an estimated 20 million Americans who wake each morning wishing you could sleep for several more hours, you may be suffering from OSA: Obstructive Sleep Apnea; a common sleep disorder where the breathing airway is partially blocked by fatty neck tissue or by the uvula (the dangling tissue at the back of the throat).  The blockage might cause breathing to stop for several seconds at a time: the break in breathing can even continue for up to a minute.  These breaks are called sleep ‘apneas’ and might occur hundreds of times throughout a night’s sleep.

People suffering sleep apneas might be susceptible to heavy snoring through the night and be extremely tired during waking hours as a result of constant sleep interruption throughout each night, with feelings of irritability; moodiness; morning headaches and a general inability to deal with the normal ups and downs of daily life.  Someone suffering from sleep apnea might also experience memory problems and reduced energy.

Remarkably, 90 – 95% of sleep apnea sufferers are unaware they have a problem and might be blissfully unaware of their battles to breathe normally through the night. The disorder can actually be dangerous, as it can prompt a number of serious conditions such as heart arrhythmias; stroke; metabolic syndrome; heart failure and high blood pressure.  There is also a higher risk of depression for people with OSA.

Sleep apnea is thought to cause up to 200,000 traffic accidents in the USA each year as a result of drivers slipping into sleep behind the wheel!  Lethargy and tiredness can also lead to a reluctance for exercise and put a person suffering from obesity at risk of further weight gain, although not all OSA sufferers are obese.

Luckily, OSA is easily treated: a sleep test is a comfortable process conducted in a laboratory or at home.  Breathing sensors monitor the sleeper’s breathing; pulse and oxygen levels; collating information during the night to be analysed by medical sleep specialists.  A CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine may then be used to assist correct breathing during the night, providing air that is set at the correct pressure by means of a mask worn over the nose and mouth.

The Aviisha Medical Wellness Institute in Los Angeles is recognised to provide definitive sleep assessment and treatment for sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, through tests in sleep labs; home sleep analysis and customized weight loss programs for patients who suffer from sleep apnea and obesity.  Aviisha customizes the most effective treatment plan for individual patients after analysing lifestyle and medical history.

Sleep Apnea – the Sleep Disorder That’s Hard to Trace

Posted by Apnea
Categorized Under: Sleep Apnea
Dated: 13 Nov 2009
Comments: 0

One of the most common sleep disorders in the world is sleep apnea, affecting millions of people each year.  Sleep apnea occurs when a person stops breathing while they are asleep, for at least 10 seconds according to many medical journals.  This can happen multiple times during the night, sometimes resulting in the person awakening and sometimes with the person remaining asleep but acting restless during the night.Sleep apnea can result in chronic fatigue for the person affected by the condition.  Because the person’s inability to breathe is disrupting their sleep at night, whether they awaken or not, the person is not getting the quality sleep that will allow them to awake refreshed in the morning.  After consecutive nights of this occurring, the person will become fatigued, irritable, and drowsy during the day.Sleep apnea can be a difficult condition to diagnose because the person may be unaware that they stop breathing in their sleep.  All that they know is that they may wake up in the middle of the night for no reason and even when they do sleep through the night, they are still tired when they awake.  It may take months or years to determine the actual cause of the person’s restlessness at night and during that time the person will continue to experience episodes of sleep apnea and may even become conditioned to its effects.Treating sleep apnea can also be difficult because of the nature of the condition.  Different treatments may be used but their effectiveness can be difficult to judge without a third party observing the sleeping behavior of the affected person.  The condition is usually diagnosed by a loved one observing the interrupted sleep pattern of the person.  The loved one also the person that observes the effects of the treatment and tells the doctor whether or not it is working.The treatments used for sleep apnea cover a wide variety of options.  Choosing the option that is best for a person’s condition will depend on the type of sleep apnea affecting them and how severe the condition is.  Some people are helped by changing the position that they sleep in at night while others will need some sort of medical device to help them keep their airways open while they sleep.  If the person’s condition is severe, then there are medical and surgical options that can be used to give the patient some relief from their condition.  Sleep apnea is a condition that can be devastating to the people that it affects, but there are ways to reduce the effects that sleep apnea has on a person’s life.

Sleep Apnea – The Silent Sleep Disorder

Posted by Apnea
Categorized Under: Sleep Apnea
Dated: 13 Nov 2009
Comments: 0

One of the most common sleep disorders in the world is sleep apnea, affecting millions of people each year. Sleep apnea occurs when a person stops breathing while they are asleep, for at least 10 seconds according to many medical journals. This can happen multiple times during the night, sometimes resulting in the person awakening and sometimes with the person remaining asleep but acting restless during the night.
Sleep apnea can result in chronic fatigue for the person affected by the condition. Because the person’s inability to breathe is disrupting their sleep at night, whether they awaken or not, the person is not getting the quality sleep that will allow them to awake refreshed in the morning. Ideally each of us needs 3 hours of uniterrupted sleep for our bodys to properly recharge and repair itself during the night. Constant interruption of this resting and healing phase while we’re asleep can cause the sufferer constant hardship through extreme fatigue. The persons health will also start to suffer after several months of such problems. After consecutive nights of this occurring, the person will become fatigued, irritable, and drowsy during the day.
Sleep apnea can be a difficult condition to diagnose because the person may be unaware that they stop breathing in their sleep- simply because they’re asleep and have no awareness that anything has actually happened to them at all. All that they know is that they may wake up in the middle of the night for no reason and even when they do sleep through the night, they are still tired when they awake. It may take months or years to determine the actual cause of the person’s restlessness at night and during that time the person will continue to experience episodes of sleep apnea and may even become conditioned to its effects.
Treating sleep apnea can also be difficult because of the nature of the condition. Different treatments may be used but their effectiveness can be difficult to judge without a third party observing the sleeping behavior of the affected person. The condition is usually diagnosed by a loved one observing the interrupted sleep pattern of the person. The loved one also the person that observes the effects of the treatment and tells the doctor whether or not it is working.
The treatments used for sleep apnea cover a wide variety of options. Choosing the option that is best for a person’s condition will depend on the type of sleep apnea affecting them and how severe the condition is. Some people are helped by changing the position that they sleep in at night while others will need some sort of medical device to help them keep their airways open while they sleep. If the person’s condition is severe, then there are medical and surgical options that can be used to give the patient some relief from their condition. Sleep apnea is a condition that can be devastating to the people that it affects, but there are ways to reduce the effects that sleep apnea has on a person’s life.